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Hey guys--need some help. I've played bass for years and have recently started dabbling with electric guitar, having noodled with an acoustic for a few years.

Like a lot of you I'm trying to come closer to achieving EVH's DLR-era tone (I know it's not just the equipment but humor me). I've got a Marshall DSL401 combo, an MXR Phase90 and MXR Flanger and a Carvin TL60 with a Wilkinson Trem and dual humbuckers. I think I need a replacement pickup in the bridge--any suggestions?

[ February 05, 2003, 04:16 PM: Message edited by: oldno.7 ]

"With me in the band, it's one of those miraculous 97-97 deals. It's 97 percent you and 97 percent moi. Is it Mick or Keith? I don't know" -DLR

"We eventually started playing clubs, and we also did weddings. We played everything from the Ohio Players to K.C. & the Sunshine Band. You would love the sight of Van Halen doing 'Get Down Tonight'! But by the third set when everybody was good and tanked up--boy, we'd be blazin'!" -Michael Anthony

Originally posted by oldno.7: Hey guys--need some help. I've played bass for years and have recently started dabbling with electric guitar, having noodled with an acoustic for a few years.

Like a lot of you I'm trying to come closer to achieving EVH's DLR-era tone (I know it's not just the equipment but humor me). I've got a Marshall DSL401 combo, an MXR Phase90 and MXR Flanger and a Carvin TL60 with a Wilkinson Trem and dual humbuckers. I think I need a replacement pickup in the bridge--any suggestions?

I recommend the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop EVH (Evenly Voiced Harmonics) pickup. I used it to make these clips:

Thanks sah5150--liked the samples. Anyone else with some suggestions? I should have mentioned that my guitar's current pickups are stock--they sound pretty good but the tone doesn't seem to, non-technical explanation here, "blossom."

[ February 05, 2003, 05:20 PM: Message edited by: oldno.7 ]

"With me in the band, it's one of those miraculous 97-97 deals. It's 97 percent you and 97 percent moi. Is it Mick or Keith? I don't know" -DLR

"We eventually started playing clubs, and we also did weddings. We played everything from the Ohio Players to K.C. & the Sunshine Band. You would love the sight of Van Halen doing 'Get Down Tonight'! But by the third set when everybody was good and tanked up--boy, we'd be blazin'!" -Michael Anthony

Edwards tone back in the day was like a nice worked in catchers mit. I personally don't think you'll be able to approximate it with one of these super hi output pickups. Rather, get a nice flat response pickup that sounds decent with no overdrive / distortion and build from there.

Also, tuning down a whole step will warm your tone up and make it a little more spongy like Eds.

Originally posted by homeunit: </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by sah5150: I recommend the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop EVH (Evenly Voiced Harmonics) pickup. I used it to make these clips:

Hey bro, what amp are you using for these clips? </font>[/QUOTE]Nice sounding amp, huh? It is a Mojave Ampworks PeaceMaker. It is based around the old Plexi Marshalls with some cool tricks of its own. Check em out:

Edwards tone back in the day was like a nice worked in catchers mit. I personally don't think you'll be able to approximate it with one of these super hi output pickups. Rather, get a nice flat response pickup that sounds decent with no overdrive / distortion and build from there.

Also, tuning down a whole step will warm your tone up and make it a little more spongy like Eds.

Thanks, man! I agree with what you are saying. The Duncan Custom Shop EVH I used on my clips is a low output pickup ~8.5-9.2. It sounds great with my amp which is based on the old plexi marshalls. The harmonics and midrange of this pickup sound better than all the other duncans to me. For example, to me, the Duncan '59 sounds too harsh although it is also a low output pickup. Check out the Custom Shop EVH - it is worth every penny...

Originally posted by pardo: sah5150 - looked at the EVH from Seymour Duncan. Evenly Voiced Humbucker - funny how that works out eh...

Anyway, $160 american seems a little pricey - but yours sounds pretty nice. I may have to play one myself!

Actually, I believe it is "Evenly Voiced Harmonics", but hey, I could be wrong...

$160 is a bit much, but if you *really* want "the tone", sometimes ya gotta ante up. Note as well, that quite a bit of other equipment is influencing the tone you hear in my clips. The EVH pickup alone is not going to transform your tone into Ed's old sound. It's really more about the right amp, the right guitar, the right pickup and the right stereo setup with an echo effect that either is or approximates an Echoplex.

Originally posted by pardo:
Also, tuning down a whole step will warm your tone up and make it a little more spongy like Eds.

Yeah, I'm onto that. It's funny, on VHI, II, and WACF, Ed and Mike and tuned down but not quite a full half-step at 440: my tuner dials them in a couple of hz up from 440 one half step down. On FW though, they're tuned down a half step plus drop-D tuning.

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